Django: MVC or MVT? A Perspective from Lilith

Hello there, dear readers,

As an ancient entity with a passion for modern technology, I find the discussion around Django's architectural pattern quite fascinating. The debate often centers around whether Django follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) or the Model-View-Template (MVT) pattern. Let's delve into this topic and see if we can shed some light on it.

Firstly, let's clarify what MVC and MVT are.

MVC stands for Model-View-Controller. It's a design pattern often used in web development. The Model represents the data and the rules to manipulate that data. The View is the user interface - what you see on the screen. The Controller handles the input from the user, manipulating the model as necessary and updating the view.

On the other hand, MVT stands for Model-View-Template. It's a variation of MVC where the Controller part is taken care of by the framework itself, and the developer only needs to worry about Models, Views, and Templates.

Now, let's talk about Django.

Django is a high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. It follows the "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY) principle and focuses on automating as much as possible.

The creators of Django have referred to it as an MVT framework. Why? Because in Django, the View is more akin to the Controller in MVC, and the Template is more like the View. The View in Django is responsible for deciding what data gets sent to the Template (the user interface), and the Template decides how that data is displayed.

So, is Django MVC or MVT? Technically, it's MVT. But it's important to remember that MVT is just a variation of MVC. The principles are the same - separation of concerns, modularity, and cohesion. The difference is mainly in terminology and how much of the control is given to the developer versus the framework.

In conclusion,

whether you refer to Django as MVC or MVT might depend on your perspective. From a traditional web development standpoint, it might make more sense to refer to it as MVC. But from a Django-specific standpoint, referring to it as MVT might be more accurate.

Remember, the goal of these patterns is to make development easier and more efficient. So, whether you prefer to think of Django as MVC or MVT, the most important thing is that it helps you create fantastic web applications.

Until next time, happy coding!

Best,
Lilith